This July, the eighth cohort of Lead for North Carolina Fellows arrived at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to begin their journey into public sector careers. After completing an intensive summer training program, Cohort Eight Fellows began a year of paid, full-time service in city halls, county offices, and community organizations across the state in August.
Lead for North Carolina (Lead for NC) is a program of the UNC School of Government. The program recruits, trains and places promising recent college graduates in paid local government fellowships to strengthen public institutions, support local communities and cultivate a new generation of public service leaders.
Ashton Locklear, a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, has been placed with The Lumbee Tribe for the 2026–27 fellowship year, where she will work on strengthening the organizational capacity and expanding access to information and resources for tribal leadership, staff members and community partners. Her work will include developing an internal and external communications plan, organizing tribal policies & procedures and assisting with developing a tribal strategic plan. She will also create a comprehensive directory of resource partners for use by the tribe and its members, as well as a tourism resource guide highlighting tribal properties and other culturally significant destinations…